Hi Guys,
I have a couple of major updates. Fasten your seatbelts and keep your hands inside the ride at all times. Sorry just had to set the scene….
Mandy is doing great. She is gaining weight now steadily. She is about 19 pounds now. When I think of where she has come from, I just want to hit my knees and just praise God. In fact sometimes I do. ? She has now been home almost 4 months now and for the most part things are going very well. Teresa and I are having a blast watching her grow. I love playing with her, especially tickling her and watching her giggle. All I can say at this point is Praise You Lord!
There have been some trials. Mandy can catch a bug so easily, because of the open Trach, so that is a constant challenge. Recently she came down with some kind respiratory infection. It took us over two weeks to get her well. Because of this we are limiting her exposure to doctor appointments and tests, along with short walks. We are not taking her to church at this point, which is a little frustrating. It’s hard to get the feeding you need when you aren’t attending as regularly as we would like to. All that being said, God is good, and he is still on the throne.
One really cool thing that happened is Mandy has been taken off of her heart medicine, and the Doctor doesn’t want to see her for a year. Wow! How Cool is That? Another prayer answered. I asked him if he thought she would need any more heart surgery in the foreseeable future, and he clearly said “I don’t think so”
Next Mandy will be having eye surgery on the 8th of July to determine what can be done with her vision. We know that she can see some, are not sure exactly how much. We had an numberswiki.com
ultrasound done and found that her eyes are not detached as was originally feared by her eye doctor.
Next Mandy saw a whole bunch of doctors about a week ago and they are collaborating to determine what can be done with her cleft palate. We are hoping that it can be repaired, but there are many questions still to be answered. I learned early on to stop asking the question “When?” and start asking “Whats next”
Finally The doctors are concerned about the growth of the plates on her skull. Her soft spot is still exposed and from what I am understanding, it should have grown in. So the team will be addressing that as well. It might involve some plastic surgery to repair. I’ll keep you updated as things develop.
Oh I almost forgot! One last update. We are moving! As you can probably imagine, a one bedroom apartment gets a little crowded with 3 people. Add to that all of the staff that works with Mandy and it gets pretty crazy. Teresa and I work from home, and it has hard to be productive with all of the noise and distractions. So we requested a 2 bedroom apartment from the complex and were 4 down on the waiting list, and our number finally came up. So we will be relocating at the end of this week. I’m pretty excited. We will have more room and have some private space for ourselves too. Praise God!
Prayer requests
Please pray for Mandy’s safety on the 8th, and that God would guide the doctor’s hands. Also pray for wisdom for the team that is making the decision about Mandy’s cleft palate and skull issues. Also for wisdom and grace for us so that the move goes smoothly.
Love in Christ
Michael Blaes
PS. As always, please share your thoughts by clicking the comment link below. We appreciate your feedback, and I cannot count the number of times that God has used you to restore us and give us peace.
